Residents living in the Iberville Housing Development raised questions about why they’ve been excluded from the Palace Hotel implosion zone on Sunday.

According to the state, all hazardous materials have been cleared from the Grand Palace Hotel, but some residents across the interstate said they feel unsafe.

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The state says they will be safe, but be subjected to light dust.

Michael Smith can see the hotel every day when he leaves his home in the development and is worried about the evacuation plans.

“You gonna evacuate people six blocks away, and the people one block away, you gonna tell us to stay here. I don't understand it,” he said.

Sunday’s implosion will bring down what remains of the already partially demolished building. It will also create a cloud of dust, but neither he nor civil rights attorney Tracie Washington understand why the area was excluded from the mandatory evacuation.

“They've gerrymandered this district so that some residents are protected and these poor residents are not protected,” she said.

The Iberville is just outside the lines of the evacuation area set by police, using a standard 600-foot radius to create the exclusion zone. The state said that when the evacuation was ordered – out of an abundance of caution – the exclusion zone was set at the outside edge of any block that was within the 600-foot radius.

“I don't know who drew up the map or anything like that, but it's not right though,” Smith said.

According to the state, most of the heavy dust and debris will settle within 150 feet of the hotel, but Iberville residents like Michelle Byrd don't buy it.

Residents have been advised to turn off their air conditioning for about 15 minutes before and after the implosion.

“They ain't worried about us over here,” she said. “If I got to turn my AC off, I ain’t gonna be able to take that heat, so I don’t know what they talking about doing.”

The implosion will take about eight seconds to crumble the building, but it’s the beginning of Smith’s worries, he said.

“We got a lot of elderly people. I'm an asthma patient, what am I gonna do? My son's an asthma patient. What is he gonna do,” he said.

The Housing Authority of New Orleans said it will hand-deliver notices to residents as a precautionary measure, advising them to stay inside, close windows and doors and cover any openings where dust may enter.